Homeless man arrested for attack on another homeless man who needed 10 stitches for a cut on his hand
Staff report
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Anthony Pernell Collins, Jr., 25, was arrested yesterday after allegedly attacking another homeless man with a thick broomstick and a sharp, shiny object, requiring the victim to get 10 stitches.
At about 5:30 p.m. on April 28, Collins allegedly approached the victim, who was inside a tent in the 900 block of NE 31st Avenue, near the Highland Estates neighborhood. Collins reportedly told the victim it was a “hit tent” and the victim needed to leave immediately. As the victim left the tent, Collins allegedly hit the victim with a thick broomstick handle, leaving the victim dazed. The victim told a responding Gainesville Police Department officer that he looked up and saw Collins swinging a sharp silver object that “glistened in the light,” and when he put up his hand to block the strike, his hand was cut.
The officer reported that the victim suffered a black eye, several lacerations on his face, and a four-inch cut on his hand that required 10 stitches.
Collins was arrested at GRACE Marketplace (3055 NE 28th Drive) at about 3:15 p.m. on May 1, and a search incident to arrest reportedly produced a small baggie containing 0.4 grams of a rock-like substance that tested positive for methamphetamine.
Post Miranda, Collins reportedly said the victim tried to hit him with a silver water canteen, so he hit the victim with a thick broomstick. When the officer asked about the large cut on the victim’s hand, Collins reportedly said the end of the broomstick might have cut the victim’s hand; he added that the victim fell back into a fire pit that contained sharp objects. He reportedly said the rock-like substance was “ice.”
Collins, whose address is listed as GRACE Marketplace, has been charged with aggravated battery and possession of a controlled substance. He has two felony convictions (non-violent) and 13 misdemeanor convictions (non-violent), all since 2022. Judge Meshon Rawls set bail at $85,000.
Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
He’s so good with a broom, why hasn’t Ward or Poe hired him to clean their homes?
Most of us know the answer to that – one’s a fraud and the other is just a lard arsed hypocrite.
Why don’t you offer your garage for a detention center, hypocrite?
You idiot, all along I’ve mentioned many times there’s a reason I live where I do and don’t feed the cats.
Unlike you, I don’t close my eyes when I walk downtown and pretend the filth doesn’t exist.
You can lie all you want to yourself, your wife and your son, but most of us know you’re not only an idiot, you’re a lying hypocrite as well.
What is a “thick” broomstick, compared to a regular sized broomstick?
How about making “The Disgrace Center” a Work Camp. You live there you get up and go to work. Low-income housing solved. The people living there would be the ones who really are seeking help. And not just a place to hide out.
Clearly you aren’t thinking about it! Who said people aren’t working? The judgement is insane. I dislike people like you because of ignorant comments such as yours… SIGH… There are many there working to end their homelessness but the bad always outweighs the good at that place.
It’s a shame that apparently you can’t do anything kind (like Grace) for these people. They don’t appreciate it and use it as a base to commit crimes.
You’ all are howling at the moon complaining about something you don’t want to fix. Fixing it would require spending a fair amount of money to provide safe temp housing with humane social services and those who insist on sleeping on public property thrown in jail. That will cost money.
This is a national problem involving mental patients – many of them vets – and drug addicts – many of them vets, not some local issue you can blame on the mayor. How we – and the nation – deal with it is on our elected leaders and us, but not it’s existence.